is the world's largest producer of nuclear power,

but it depends on Russia

for about 24% of its enriched uranium,

a key ingredient for nuclear fuel.

Even with enrichment facilities owned by friendly countries,

- We still don't have enough

if Russian supply was not available in the marketplace.

- [Narrator] That's why nuclear fuel

is one of the few Russian energy sources

not banned by the West

as a result of the war in Ukraine, but

- Russia is incredibly willing to use energy as a weapon.

- [Narrator] Here's how the U.S.

is working to revive domestic production

to reduce the risk of a critical fuel shortage

in the future.

Nuclear reactors generate nearly 20% of U.S. electricity,

but demand is quickly rising

as the U.S. races to meet its clean energy goals.

- We're seeing it from our utilities.

We're seeing it from oil, gas, chemical companies,

big tech firms.

- [Narrator] But more nuclear energy

requires more nuclear fuel,

and the U.S. currently lacks the capacity

to produce its own.

That's because uranium ore goes through four main processes

to become nuclear fuel,

and the U.S. relies on other countries

for three of those steps.

First, raw uranium is mined out of the ground and milled.

Then it's converted into a gas and enriched,

increasing the percentage of the radioactive isotope.

Finally, the uranium is fabricated into fuel pellets

that are stacked inside metal fuel rods

and loaded into a nuclear reactor.

The U.S. gets most of its uranium ore

from Canada and Kazakhstan.

Even though Russia isn't a leader,

it is substantially involved

in Kazakhstan's mining operations.

There's only one U.S.-owned converter,

and there's no U.S.-owned enricher

for the current fleet of nuclear reactors.

Meanwhile, Russia dominates both of those steps.

- We've seen that Russia is willing

to use its energy resources as a tool of leverage.

The sooner we can move ourselves away

from that potential vulnerability,

the better off we're all gonna be.

- [Narrator] In an effort to reshore

as many steps of this supply chain as possible,

a number of U.S. companies are ramping up capacity.

For example, mining company Energy Fuels

is restarting this conventional uranium mine

in La Sal, Utah, after signing long-term contracts

with two nuclear utilities in 2022.

- La Sal Complex, as we call it,

is a mine that dates back to the '50s

and operated for 20, 30 years,

and then it really kind of went dormant

for a number of years.

- [Narrator] The last commercial production

of uranium at La Sal was in 2014.

- Now with increasing uranium prices,

we're going back into full production in 2024.

- [Narrator] Energy Fuels

is currently hiring about 50 miners,

purchasing and refurbishing equipment,

and doing maintenance work.

- Our plans are to restart mining

about 70,000 tons of uranium per year, at least initially,

not quite enough for a single large-scale nuclear reactor.

- [Narrator] Chalmers says

he doesn't expect uranium mining in the U.S.

to replace larger producers like Canada.

Instead, he sees it as a way

to diversify the country's sources of raw uranium.

- With the contracts that we have, we can make nice margins,

but we're gonna need higher uranium prices

that justify restarting production,

because every time we restart a mine,

they get more expensive.

- [Narrator] Along with its mines,

Energy Fuels also plans to restart White Mesa Mill in 2024,

the only operating conventional uranium mill in the U.S.

This is where uranium ore goes after it's mined

and before it goes to a conversion facility.

- This came from La Sal Complex, and that's Utah.

This came from New Mexico.

- [Narrator] On the enrichment front,

Centrus Energy launched

the only U.S.-owned uranium enrichment plant

earlier this year.

It made its first delivery

of high-assay, low-enriched uranium, or HALEU,

to the U.S. Department of Energy in November.

HALEU will be used

in the next generation of advanced reactors.

Because these reactors are still being developed,

many proponents of nuclear energy

see the HALEU supply chain as an opportunity

for the U.S. to become a global leader.

- When these advanced reactors

were initially coming to market,

their plan was to buy from Russia,

which is the only commercial supplier

of that fuel type today.

In light of the Russian assault on Ukraine,

those plans have changed.

- [Narrator] As part of the Inflation Reduction Act,

$700 million was invested to support the development

of a domestic supply chain for HALEU.

Russia's dominance in the uranium supply chain

can be traced back to a program

called Megatons to Megawatts.

The goal of this program was for Russia

to downgrade the uranium from its nuclear weapons

to levels needed for nuclear reactors,

and then sell that fuel to the U.S. for cheap.

- Since 2013 when that program expired,

we've still had a lot of commercial activity with Russia

because of those strong commercial relationships

that had been built up.

- [Narrator] In the '90s,

the U.S. also privatized its uranium enrichment operations.

But without federal support,

the country's two enrichment facilities

eventually had to be shut down.

Kotek says one of the biggest challenges

of building up domestic capability

is giving companies the confidence

that their investments will pay off.

- Federal support, we think, is crucial.

- There's no such thing as a nuclear fuel cycle

without some level of government support.

Russia is really operating as a state-owned enterprise.

- [Narrator] Kotek says

the industry needs federal investment in both infrastructure

and long-term contracts with utility companies.

Utilities are the owners and operators of nuclear reactors

that pay for each step of this process.

In October,

the Biden administration sent a proposal to Congress

to invest around $2 billion

to improve long-term domestic enrichment capabilities.

- We requested this as an administration

because it is a high priority.

In the long-term, we would like to see

this commercial industry stand on its own,

without consistent and forever federal investment.

- [Narrator] A bipartisan group in Congress

is also pushing legislation

to ban U.S. use of Russian uranium.

- Nothing happens quickly in the nuclear fuel cycle.

When you lose your capabilities

like we've done in the United States,

you're looking at probably 10 to 15 years plus

to reestablish those capabilities.

- It's important to invest quickly

so that it's an aggressive expansion,

and we don't run out of uranium before we need it.

- Meeting the fuel demands

for both today's plants and new plants

are gonna require a lot of investment

in all of those technologies.

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